Holy chit mang!!!! Diesel prices...

[OmniGLH]

I nearly dropped a load in my pants this morning as I passed the gas station on my way to work....



$2.39 a gallon!!!



6 months ago, right after I bought my truck, I was paying $1.74!  That is a 37% increase in SIX MONTHS.  At this rate, not only am I NOT going to race next year (as opposed to my planned "very light" year).. I'm going to have to sell everything I own, buy myself a Civic, and move back in with dad!

The really odd thing about this is that when I bought the truck, diesel was ~20 cents per gallon LESS than regular 87 octane gasoline.  Now it's 10 cents MORE per gallon than PREMIUM gasoline.  What gives??  Are stations just trying to gouge truckers?

[WebCrush]

Well, with the combined crude oil prices up 65% in the last year, and a shortage of home heating oil (which is the same as diesel), all the refineries are focusing their supplies on providing heating oil.

Thats why diesel is always cheaper in the summer months (no heating oil being used) and down south (no heating oil being used :D)

[Super Dave]

That's the best answer on why it's all up and down and down in the south.  

I think that Biodiesel is starting to look attractive.  

Here and there it's available.  Might be worth looking at now.

[OmniGLH]

That's the best answer on why it's all up and down and down in the south.  

I think that Biodiesel is starting to look attractive.  

Here and there it's available.  Might be worth looking at now.

Is that the stuff you make at home?  Or is it something else, that certain gas stations sell?

[WebCrush]

Biodiesel is basically an oil product made from the oil of canola and other agr. refuse products.  They do make commerical engines for it and distribute the fuel for it, but its more pricey.

If you wanna get real cheap, check out GreaseCar.com.  They sell a kit to convert your standard diesel engine to run off of left over deep fry grease.  Most restaurants have to PAY to have this stuff taken away, so they'll give it to you for free.

Downside is that you need to start and stop the engine on standard diesel and the grease congeals in the lines.

[Super Dave]

B100 (straight bio diesel...basicially a soy product with a little methanol) is going for about the same cost as regular diesel in Maryland.

Other places it's around $3 a gallon.  Apparently, it might make your diesel run smoother with better lubrication.

WVO...waste vegetable oil...whole different animal...but you can make that into bio diesel of your own.

Here's a place to play...

http://forums.thedieselstop.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=biodiesel&PHPSESSID=

[Super Dave]

Downside is that you need to start and stop the engine on standard diesel and the grease congeals in the lines.

With a Powerstroke, it's perfect since everything meets in the V of the engine.  You use lines for the extra tank that run engine coolant in it (a separate line that moves warm coolant, obviously) to warm the WVO (waste vegetable oil).  

The coking is only a problem really when you shut down the vehicle on it and it makes a mess on the injectors.  Start up isn't going to be easy because it just needs heat.

As for a restaruant letting you have it for free...well, it's not necessarily that easy.  Still, it is an opportunity.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

My uncle knew someone that did the used fry oil in his Powerstroke, but he lived in the southwest where he didn't have to deal with real cold. He said the funny thing about it was that his truck smelled like french fries going down the road! ;D He used to mix in a small amount of gasoline with it, he apparently had that down to an art on how much to use. He supplied a local restraunt with a filter system he made up that would filter the oil. The restraunt would dump the oil into a barrel that had the filter system attached to it and it would automatically filter the fluid and pump it into a grease storage container.

[Super Dave]

Mixed gasoline with it?  I think that would have been really bad.  Methanol maybe.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

Mixed gasoline with it?  I think that would have been really bad.  Methanol maybe.

It was gasoline, I questioned that myself. If I remember correctly it was something like 2 gallons of gas to 50 or 100 gallons of fry oil.

[WebCrush]

i would expect maybe kerosene, not gasoline.

gasoline's octane is chemically opposite of diesel's cetane

[251am]

  Yeah, kerosene 50:1